6th UK and Ireland Implementation Science Research Conference 2023
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PRESENter
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Biography
Dr Clodagh Toomey is a Physiotherapist and Research Fellow at the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick. Clodagh completed her PhD at the University of Limerick in 2014 and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2017 at the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Calgary, where she also holds an adjunct position. Her clinical and research experience has focused on prevention and management of musculoskeletal disease across the lifespan. Most recently, she was a recipient of a Health Research Board Emerging Investigator Award which is investigating how to optimise implementation of clinical guidelines for osteoarthritis in practice. Clodagh is the research lead on the Good Living with osteoArthritis Denmark (GLA:D®) initiative in Ireland.
background
The Good Life with osteoArthritis Denmark (GLA:D®) non-profit initiative is a bottom-up approach to deliver evidence-based care, including exercise and education, to people with hip or knee osteoarthritis. GLA:D® Ireland commenced in October 2021, using a participatory approach to co-design implementation strategies that would ensure optimal and equitable access to the evidence-based programme. The objective is to determine the adoption, acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility and penetration of GLA:D® Ireland across different healthcare settings in Ireland, in the first year of implementation.
MEthod
Quantitative implementation outcomes collected from the GLA:D® Ireland Registry were analysed from November 2021–2022. Physiotherapists who completed a two-day training course were asked to register patients with osteoarthritis who underwent the intervention, using REDCap™ electronic data capture form. Patients were subsequently sent questionnaires to complete. Table 1 lists implementation evaluation methods and results.
results
In the first year, 71 physiotherapists attended one of three GLA:D® training courses (41% primary care, 38% public hospital, 21% private practice). Of 130 patients screened, 41% were from the three sites with more than one physiotherapist trained (one primary care (n=2) and two public hospital sites (n=4 each)).
Conclusion
While GLA:D® was found to be acceptable, appropriate and feasible, and was adopted by many primary care settings in the first year, penetration was more successful in acute hospital settings, with more resources, physiotherapists trained and consultant referrals. A greater understanding of enablers to implementation in primary care settings may help to ensure timely and equitable access to the programme across Ireland.